not a breath too soon
by wasteofmind
Summary: And together, they wait for their swordsman to wake up. Post - Thriller Bark.


Sanji looks up when he hears someone approach.

He's not surprised when he sees that it's Nami. She smiles at him, and he musters up the warmest, most reassuring smile he can manage in return (and mentally he kicks himself in the head for not being able to give her more than that. He's too tired). She hasn't come to check up on him, neither to try to convince him to get some sleep. Nami is able to recognize a lost battle when she sees one.

Instead she surprises him, which is a very hard thing to do. Whatever wonders she manages to create, and whatever awe she arouses, he has never doubted her. He believes in anything she's able to do.

But tonight, when she walks up to him with a warm cup of tea, she manages to do something he isn't expecting. She rolls her eyes as she hands it over to him, and explains very clearly that it's just a reheated cup from the pot he made earlier. But maybe there's a hint of a smile tugging at the side of her lips – or maybe he imagines it - as she puts the cup down next to him. The wind blows a few strands of hair astray and she tucks them behind her ear as she stands next to him and looks over the very still swordsman.

She sneaks a glance back at Sanji, and then she _sighs_ and rests a soft, gentle hand on his forehead, and lends him a little strength. Her fingers brush away a stray bang, and then she leans away.

As she walks back to the ship, he hears her mutter something about _morons _and _idiots _in that lovely way only she can_._

* * *

Luffy bounces towards him - and Sanji wonders quietly to himself if his captain ever actually walks anywhere. He slows down when he reaches the sleeping Zoro, and then carefully places his straw hat on the swordsman's chest.

Sanji watches as it slowly rises and sinks with every steady breath.

There's a pause as Luffy stands still – for once – and furrows his brow in thought, a curious expression on his face. He waits a little before he opens his mouth.

"Sanji? You know what happened to Zoro, don't you?"

It's a question that has been hanging in the air during the hours they wait, and wait for their valued swordsman to regain consciousness. Chopper says there's something strange with the injuries – that there's too many of them – and Robin says that something must have happened during the time they were knocked out; otherwise they wouldn't still be alive.

And over the whole camp there's a worried tension drifting through the air, while Sanji smokes three cigarettes in a row and refuses to leave Zoro's side.

He'll get up to cook and prepare their lunchboxes, and he'll flirt with Nami and Robin while he serves them coffee, and he'll tease Usopp, and yell at Luffy for trying to break the refrigerator. But after that, he can be found on the same rock, breathing smoke next to Zoro's unconscious form.

(_Of course, they've noticed.)_

Sanji huffs on his smoke while he looks Luffy in the eyes. He's not going to answer that question but neither is he going to lie to his captain. Luffy's gaze is unwavering and something in his eyes makes Sanji feel as if he understands.

It takes a moment but then Luffy's face transforms into a grin – maybe a little bit on smaller side, but a grin nonetheless – and maybe Sanji manages to offer a quick smile in return. It's hard not to, when you're captain has that kind of contagious smile.

"Keep an eye on Zoro, will you." Luffy says before he walks away, no doubt to follow the call of whatever adventure that is waiting for him today.

* * *

Exactly how Sanji got coaxed into helping Franky build a house, he has no idea. What he knows though, is that he has a headache, and listening to Franky's persistent hammering is not helping in making it go away.

"Franky", he starts and takes a drag from his cigarette, rubs his temple with his free hand, "You do realize that no one actually lives on this shitty island. Boat. Whatever."

Franky flashes him a ten-star grin, in what is supposed to be a charming manner.

"Yeah, but these guys said they wanted to stay on the island for a while before they continued their journey, and we can't just leave them to stay in ruins like these. Not when there's a super carpenter like me here. Besides this will only take a day at most."

Sanji is forced to admit that Franky has a point. He too heard Lola mention their plans of staying for a while to rest and let any injuries heal before they left. (To take a walk in the sun). That's the reason he spent three hours the day before with the crew to help them ration their food supply – and maybe he was excessively thorough, but, as the saying goes, old habits die hard.

"Don't you think you're exaggerating a little though?"

As he utters the question he realizes it's a lost cause – isn't the whole deal with Franky to exaggerate? Nonetheless, the house might just consist of a base and a couple of walls for now, but he saw the blueprints and well, he's no expert when it comes to buildings, but the lavish balconies might be an unnecessary touch.

Franky just laughs, and there's a very different kind of smile on his face when he answers.

"A super cook like you should know that anyone that takes pride in their work will always put their heart into anything they do!"

And Sanji can't help but grin at that, because this time he has to agree with their shitty cyborg.

They continue working for the rest of the afternoon (well Franky does, the only thing Sanji is doing is kick away any large rubble). Sanji watches Franky blow away some splinters and run his hand across the wood. He wonders if the cyborg is doing so out of habit.

After a while Franky speaks up again.

"I don't know what happened to swords-bro, and I know you won't tell us. But even though this week has been pretty rough, he's a tough guy - almost as super as me - so he'll be okay."

Sanji wants to roll his eyes. It's a little hard to believe that when - before - he spent an hour watching the swordsman not move a muscle.

* * *

It's only when he notices that he's washed the same plate twice that Sanji gives up and steps away from the sink. Usually washing the dishes is one of few ways for him to just disappear for a while and let his mind rest. But today something's different and the tension in his shoulders never quite leave him. He sighs and turns around to lean against the sink, and absently lights yet another cigarette.

He murmurs a quiet "_Shit_", and then pushes himself off the counter and out through the door, because suddenly he feels as though he can't breathe inside the galley.

Outside he finds Brook who for once has put away the ever-present violin of his in favor of leaning against the railing. Sanji takes another drag from his cigarette and sits down to join the other, and together they watch the ocean ahead of them.

"Waiting can be quite the task." the skeleton says softly, but there's a reassuring hopefulness in his tone. A tinge of happiness that he holds on to dearly.

Sanji hums quietly in agreement.

* * *

It's early, early in the morning (and way, way too bright) and Sanji wonders briefly if he's still asleep when he enters the galley and finds a steaming mug of coffee waiting for him together with an amused archeologist.

"Good morning, Sanji", she greets him, and maybe he's not as tired as he thought because his heart skips a beat the way it always does when she calls him by name.

"Every morning that I'm greeted with a beauty as great and sensible as yours is like a gift from the heavens!" Sanji all but sings - and as always he tries to make sure she knows that he means every single word.

(And later, when he stands up to put away his cup at the sink and get to work, there's a spring in his step that wasn't there when he first entered the galley.)

Robin stays while he prepares breakfast for the rest of the crew, quietly sipping on a cup of her own. The sun shines brilliantly through the porthole and together they wait for their crewmates to wake up.

* * *

"You didn't show up for breakfast", Sanji says as he grounds to halt, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

Chopper jumps a little and then looks over to smile sheepishly at the cook.

"Sorry, Sanji" he says while paying close attention to his hooves. "I just. I forgot."

"No you didn't" Sanji says and feels like rolling his eyes, but he leans forward and rests the tray with new baked bread on the little reindeers lap.

"Now eat up. I had to fucking kick Luffy out to save even that much."

Chopper looks up at him with awe and that look in his eyes - something like longing and nostalgia - that he always gets when Sanji has made bread, before he starts eating.

"Thank you." He says between mouthfuls and Sanji doesn't even feel the need to get annoyed with the small reindeer for talking with food in his mouth. He smiles instead, that bright smile he can never help get when he's watching his crewmates eat what he has prepared for them. Chopper giggles back at him and for a moment this feels like any other day when the small doctor has fallen asleep in the infirmary - to excited to put his books away - and missed breakfast.

It's not any other day though. They are not sitting in the infirmary because Chopper fell asleep over his still open pages. They are sitting outside on a large rock, because a doctor never really wants to leave a patient he's unsure about, and right now there's an annoying swordsman to worry about, who's not showing any signs of improvement outside of his stable condition.

Chopper notices Sanji's glancing over at Zoro, and swallows carefully before he speaks again:

"He'll wake up soon." he says "Doctor's intuition."

* * *

"Sanji?" he hears coming from somewhere behind him, and when he turns he sees Usopp approaching. The long nose is dragging his feet – probably without realizing he's doing so.

"You look like you've seen some shitty ghost" Sanji offers as greeting. "Again."

"Shut up! I haven't. And I'll let you know that even if I had it would not scare me at_ all _since I am Captain Usopp, defeater of the ghost princess!, Usopp says - probably without noticing that he's striking a post.

Sanji raises a questioning eyebrow but keeps quiet. For once he can't call their sniper out for lying. Usopp walks forward the last couple of steps before taking a seat next to Sanji.

He plays with the gravel under his boots, kicking at the small pebbles.

"I came here to keep you company."

"Yeah?" Sanji says, because, well, he wasn't expecting that.

Usopp nods and then speaks again, much more confident this time.

"Yes! And you should be grateful that Captain Usopp has the time to look out for you, despite all the dangers that will be left unhandled." Sanji refrains from telling the deluded sniper that the only possible danger might be them being a little late for dinner. Instead his mind gets caught somewhere else.

"Look out for me?" Sanji raises a very skeptic eyebrow.

"Well, yeah" Usopp deflates – only a little – and fiddles with his thumbs. Suddenly it's a little hard to look at the cook. "I don't know if you noticed but we're all, ah, kind of worried about you. At least I am."

Sanji feels like scoffing at the younger man.

"If you somehow failed to notice, there's someone else here you should be worried about" he motions with his chin towards Zoro.

Usopp _sighs_ at him – as if Sanji is the one being stupid - and Sanji feels his frown deepen. Where the hell did that long nose find that kind of audacity?

"Don't be stupid Sanji. You've been acting really weird since after that blast, and it's freaking me out." Usopp swallows. "What is it that you know that makes you worry so much about Zoro?"

_Ah. _Sanji thinks. So that's what he really came here for – and he thinks to himself that he should start giving their long nose more credit. He doesn't say anything though, doesn't know what he can say. So, instead, Usopp goes on.

"Because seeing you freaked out" – and here Sanji wants to protest because he's _not _freaking out. He never freaks out. Especially not over stupid swordsmen. But he shuts up since he has the feeling that whatever it is that Usopp wants to tell him, it has taken him a little while to get there – "is freaking me out. You know, you and Zoro and Luffy - especially Luffy - never lose your cool over anything. And despite that you're all crazy and inhuman it's kind of nice to have that unyielding belief that we'll make it back us up when things might be a little too much for us normal people to handle. Even if it's in the form of you guys and your refusal of seeing danger" Usopp sends an unsure glance Zoro's way. "But this time _you're _worried too, and that makes me think that maybe – whatever happened to Zoro might be serious."

Usopp bites his lip and looks at Sanji as if his greatest wish is for Sanji to start laughing at him; tell him how wrong he is. But Sanji doesn't, because the Usopp has a point – and how is it that Sanji always manages to forget about _this _part of their sniper.

He sucks on his cigarette and puts an arm around Usopp's shoulder (and maybe it resembles the way a big brother would do towards his younger brother. Sanji doesn't know much about those things).

"The moss brain might have gotten himself into some real trouble this time. But." and here he makes sure that Usopp is really listening to him and not being occupied with playing up different worst-case scenarios in his head, "He'll be alright."

And as he says those words, he notices that he believes in them.

* * *

Sanji is in the middle lighting a cigarette when Zoro first moves. It's the tiniest of twitches, but Sanji has been watching over the swordsman for hours upon hours with the only movement being the steady rise of his chest that comes with every steady breath.

That first tiny twitch of his finger becomes an avalanche of movement. Sanji watches as it transforms into a fist trying to clench. Then; Zoro opens his eyes, and immediately a frown forms on his features. Sanji stares at him for a while, waits for Zoro's eyes to focus, before he calls for the others.

Afterwards, when he is leaning against the door of the galley; his hands shake as he tries to light the forgotten cigarette.

That night, he finds himself at the swordsman's side again after reassuring Chopper that he will wake the doctor up as soon as Zoro opens his eyes again. That's a lie though, because the first thing he does when Zoro wakes up for a second time is to tell him what's been resting on the tip of his tongue ever since he saw the bloody swordsman.

"I should kick your head in."

Zoro glares back at him – even though it lacks the usual heat, for understandable reasons – and doesn't let the words faze him a bit.

"I'm not going to apologize."

As always, when it comes to them it is like two different conversations where no one is bothering to listen to what the other is saying. Sanji does his best to ignore how weak Zoro's voice sounds.

A day or so later, they are back at sea and it feels like Sanji can breathe for real again. It's another early morning, and he's enjoying the quiet that will soon – inevitably – be disturbed by the chaos that they call breakfast. He's smoking outside the galley when he catches the swordsman trying to sneak out of the infirmary.

"If you try to train, I'm going to get Chopper right now."

Zoro glares at him but doesn't actually protest. He carefully sits down on the grassy deck of the Sunny, and closes his eyes instead. Sanji supposes it was only through sheer willpower that he even got out of bed.

"If you wanted to sleep, you could've just stayed in the infirmary and not risked Chopper handing you your ass."

Zoro frowns.

"It's different out here".

Sanji snorts, but he gets what the meathead is trying to get across.

Then Zoro says:

"I heard you were worried about me."

"Who told you something that ridiculous?"

"Usopp."

"Well, he's a fucking liar, and you know that." Sanji feels like spitting. Of course that long nose opened his shitty mouth.

"I don't regret what I did."

Sanji doesn't answer that, doesn't trust himself to answer that. He sucks on his cigarette and wishes he was somewhere else.

Not long after that Zoro gets up again – and Sanji notices how he struggles, wants to scream at him for being so stupid. When he walks by Sanji to get into the infirmary he stops for half a second; mutters before he's gone:

"Sorry".

As soon as the door slams shut behind him, Sanji glides down onto the deck. He rubs his eyes with the palms of his hands. It will take time to forgive the swordsman. It will take even longer to forgive himself.


End file.
